Ex-San Diegan among FBI’s most-wanted cybercriminals

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SAN DIEGO — The FBI sought the public’s help Friday in finding a suspected cybercriminal with San Diego ties.

Former San Diego resident Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, 33, is wanted in connection with a scheme involving software programs called “Lover Spy” and “e-mail PI,” according to the FBI.

Perez-Melara was living in San Diego in 2003 when he allegedly manufactured the programs, which were used to intercept private communications between hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals. The software was marketed to victims as a program that would spy and gather information on their cheating partners via an electronic greeting card, but instead it gathered passwords and other personal information from keystrokes on the victims’ computer, according to the FBI.

An arrest warrant for Perez-Melara was issued in July 2005, after he was charged with manufacturing a surreptitious device, sending a surreptitious interception device, advertising a surreptitious interception device, advertising and promoting the surreptitious use of an interception device, intercepting electronic communications, disclosing electronic communications, and unauthorized access to a protected computer for financial gain.

Perez-Melara’s last known location was San Salvador, El Salvador, according to the FBI, which offered a reward of up to $50,000 for his arrest.